Giulio Andreotti, (born January 14, 1919, Rome, Italy—died May 6, 2013, Rome) Italian politician who was one of the country’s most skillful and powerful politicians in the era after World War II. Over a 20-year period, he was a leading figure in the Christian Democratic Party (DC) and served as prime minister of Italy several times (1972–73, 1976–79, and 1989–92).

Giulio Andreotti, 1978.

UPI/Bettmann

After earning a degree in law (1941) at the University of Rome, Andreotti served as president (1942–44) of the Italian Catholic University Federation. He became a protégé of future prime minister Alcide De Gasperi, who in 1943 organized the Christian Democratic Party. In 1946 Andreotti was elected to the Constituent Assembly that drafted Italy’s new constitution, and the following year he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, where he remained until 1991, when he was named a life senator. From 1947 to 1953 he served as undersecretary to Prime Minister De Gasperi’s cabinet. His first cabinet post was interior minister in Amintore Fanfani’s government in 1954. Andreotti subsequently served as minister of finance (1955–58), the treasury (1958–59), defense (1959–66), and industry and commerce (1966–68).

Andreotti’s first prime ministry lasted only four months in 1972. Soon afterward he formed his second government, a coalition that lasted until June 1973. His third government, formed in 1976, comprised only Christian Democrats but held power with the tacit support of the Italian Communist Party until 1979. This tactical alliance enabled Andreotti to undertake the harsh austerity measures needed to deal with Italy’s mounting economic problems at the time. Andreotti then served as minister of foreign affairs from 1983 to 1989 in various coalition governments. He again served as prime minister in a coalition from 1989 to 1992, when he stepped down after the Christian Democrats suffered a serious setback in general elections that year.

The collapse of the Christian Democratic Party in the mid-1990s left Andreotti vulnerable to prosecution on various charges of corruption. In 1995 he was indicted for selling political favours to the Mafia, and the ensuing “trial of the century” lasted for six years and ended in his 1999 acquittal. In 2002, however, Andreotti was found guilty of having ordered the 1979 murder of a journalist, and he was sentenced to 24 years in prison. That conviction was overturned in 2003 by Italy’s highest court. Separate rulings in 2003 and 2004, the latter by the highest court, also cleared him of ties to the Mafia.

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